Just got one!

[ninermaniac]

Hey guys. I have been very fortunate lately. I have been parting with alot of games from my 2600. I have a good lot of people who come in my store. Today a customer brought in a 5200 in the box. It was complete and sweet. One of the later models that came with Pac Man. I plugged it in, gave the man the 10 bucks he asked for it, and was blown away by the graphics. Way better than the 2600 and 7800. I gotta say, I thought that it being bulky was probably one of the reasons why so many skipped it. I'm impressed. By the way. Only one controller works properly. Anyone got one that works good? I took them both apart and swapped some parts and got one working pretty good. Only the pause doesn't work. Not bad for a first timer with these ribbon nightmares. I gotta say. I like it better than the other two.

[Tom_Explodes]

I had good success using a hole punch on double sided tape and alluminum foil and attaching them to the button contacts, but if the bridges in the flex circuits themselves are shot, you need new ones.

 

 

......how was that? Did I say it all right?

 

[phuzzed]

Yep, definetly sounds like the controller is in need of a rebuild. Get some new flex circuits from Best, and while your rebuilding, might as well stock up on some buttons and keypads too.

 

I know a lot of people rip on the 5200 controllers being crap and all, but once you get a good working set, and get used to them, they aren't THAT bad (at least in my opinion). I have a couple that I have worked on that self center fairly decent (they aren't perfect, but it'll do). At least you can play pac-man with them

 

Only other alternative is to invest some $$$ into a Wico Controller, which can go for some money on places like Ebay.

[Jess Ragan]

Bah, there are plenty of alternatives if you hate the 5200 controllers. Building an adapter isn't too tough if you have some soldering experience, and you have several options available (PC joysticks, Atari controllers, and Sega Genesis pads).

[ninermaniac]

Thanks for the advice. If I can free up some more time I think i'll probably build one from a genesis pad!